Friday 9 March 2018

Mauritius of tomorrow : Panel discussion on Radio+


I was part of the panel on Radio+ and the debate was centered mainly around Mauritius of the future. I had mainly prepared my intervention to orient it mainly around the role of the University and the importance of education in general to shape the future of this country.

Here is a brief of the main questions on which I intervened and I try to engage into some further reflections in this article.

Question 1 – What is your vision of the future for Mauritius?

After Jugdish Joypaul made a brief intro and painted an overview of the progress of the Country since independence, he asked me that question. My main reflection is that Mauritius is a fast-developing country, and the ingredients that will help us to move from a middle-income country to a high-income economy is there, the blueprint is there and key actions are reflected every year in the budget. But in that quest for development and economic progress, the key reflection I wish that we should make for Mauritius is the following:
  • In our rush and quest for more progress and development, are we not leaving behind key values of humanity, mankind and ensure inclusion?  
  • How come in the Mauritius of the 21st Century we still have families living in extreme poverty?
It is unconceivable for our country and this is our biggest risk for the future. It is high time that we put a pause and reflect on what we have called “living values” at the University. Socio-economic development does not necessary bring more social justice. So the vision of the future in Mauritius, is that there should be no families living under poverty lines in Mauritius.


Question 2 – On the issue of skills mismatch, the role of Universities and the jobs of the future

I brought the discussion along the key reflection question : What is the fundamental role of a University? For me the main role of the University is to prepare individuals for the future. A future, that is uncertain and unexpected, but where one is well-equipped to face. This is where the concepts of 21st Century skills are important, and where Universities have now to rethink of the type of education and pedagogies that they are putting in place. There is a need to ensure that students are able to apply their skills, and become resilient for the future, so that they are able to adapt to changing contexts.

Having said that the role of the University is also to produce manpower who can directly contribute to the needs of the country and the industry. On this aspect the University is capitalizing on schemes such as GTES that has been put in place by the Government. There is a need to balance how Universities deal with the problematic of producing graduates with skills that are immediately applicable for industry, develop individuals with skills to be resilient in the future, and to train people for the jobs of the future.

There is also a problem in the mindset of the youth. They think that when they possess a qualification in a particular sector they have to work at all costs in that area. I took the example of someone who comes out with a management degree, expecting to be recruited as a Manager. I took my own example highlighting my first degree in Physics, with a Masters in IT but I worked in the Education field more precisely ICT in Education. Now as a Pro VC I have a portfolio ranging from Finance, HR, PR and advancement of the University while my main qualifications are in Science & Technology. What is more important is therefore to inculcate skills such as decision making, leadership development, rational thinking and often a dose of common-sense in our students.

The University of Mauritius has always been playing a key role in supporting the development of the country, when we setup the school of Agriculture, then launching the Engineering faculty and the Textile Department, moving into Tourism, Ocean Sciences and finally the setup of the Faculty of Information, Communication and Digital Technologies.

Question 3 – On the issue of the role of Government and the poor to eradicate poverty

While it is the duty of Government to eradicate poverty, special reference here is made to the eradication of extreme poverty, the Government has mainly a role of policy making, and making the money available. However, there is a need to rethink in-depth the role of NGOs and whether they are effective in the fight against poverty. The approach according to me is wrong, as there is no defined process to measure impact and outcomes. NGOs have just become like research institutes where the key is about having the knowledge to write projects to obtain grants. All these money being injected to fight poverty, a country like Mauritius should not have families living in extreme poverty. On the reflection, that whether the onus is not also on the families to make the necessary effort, it is important to know that when a kid is not well fed since his birth, his cognitive and executive functions will not be fully developed in his crucial early years. Therefore poverty becomes a vicious circle for the poor irrespective whether they have the will or not to get out of poverty.

Question 4 – On the issue of brain drain

Mauritius has two key issues to tackle. The first one is ageing of the population and the second one is the issue of brain drain. Well, a lot is being said on brain drain but as Charles Cartier put it, Mauritius is among the rare countries that helps its brain to leave the country and not to come back – the laureate system. I said that although it’s a problem, in such a global world we cannot prevent the youth and other citizens from leaving the country. However we can always work on schemes and incentives to retain our youth. One of the key issues is that technical education is not valued in Mauritius and there is a disparity in the salaries. This is why everyone prefers to go to University – we would all recall the (in)famous one graduate per family policy, which has both its merits and its disadvantages. Hopefully with the polytechnics things will improve, and also with the 9-year schooling, but these remain to be seen.

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